You have written an article on Sir Wayne Smith’s Black Ferns and the romance of the 2021 Rugby World Cup, then backed it up with Pat Lam’s Bristol Bears averaging over five tries per game in the English Premiership – both gesturing towards a rosy attacking future for the game. Then along comes Alex Sanderson and his aptly named Sale Sharks to spoil the party. Wagging a reproving finger, and twisting the signpost until it points in precisely the opposite direction.
It is the eternal dialogue in which the charm of rugby subsists: play through the backs or the forwards? Ball in hand against ball to boot? Make a living via attack or defence? In two significant games played at the same time but in different leagues on Friday evening, the URC and the Premiership mounted the case for the defence.
Leinster, for so long the standard bearers for attacking precision and multi-phase innovation, ground out a win against injury-depleted Munster at Thomond Park, while Sale produced an even more spectacular display to knock over the Bears at their Ashton Gate home. The combined score was 34-0 to the two away sides at half-time and it did not get manifestly better in the second period of either game.
The big fat zero in that scoreline tells you all you need to know about how the outcomes were achieved. The Bears had been averaging a riotous 38 points per game before the Sharks entered their feeding ground, but they were held scoreless over 80 minutes. Instead of outgunning Munster with the pyrotechnics of their running and handling, Leinster showed their new mean streak under Jacques Nienaber and squeezed the home side to death with a boa constrictor defence. It was slow and not at all pleasant. At times, you could hear the bones of the Limerick men cracking.
The South African makeover at Leinster is nearing completion. The province have only conceded 15 tries in nine rounds of URC play so far, and kick the ball away at an average rate of 28 times per game, third in the league. The typically high stats for ball-in-play time in Leinster matches have dropped to the point where they lie a lowly 11th on the URC ladder.
The addition of gnarled ex-Clermont and French international tight-head prop Rabah Slimani has even persuaded the men in blue to scrum for penalties, for goodness sakes. At Thomond Park, only seven of the total of 19 set-pieces produced clean ball – seven resulted in penalties [with six awarded to Leinster] and another five were reset.
The Sharks win the fewest number of rucks per game of any side in the Premiership [70] and they do not care much about quick ball from them, at over four seconds per pop. They kick on the same number of occasions as Leinster [28, second in the Prem] and they have moved up to second in the league for tries conceded after nilling Bristol.
It remains a very different, but very effective formula for winning games of rugby. As Lam commented ruefully to BBC Sport after the Friday evening shutout:
“The big thing when we play Sale is to get ahead on the scoreboard, [but we] fell behind, gave away penalties, missed opportunities, [there was] sloppiness and we just weren’t a reflection of what we’ve been like for the year.
“We won’t dwell on this too much, we spoke about it as a group, some great experience for the players, but we now move pretty quickly to Saracens away – something the Bears have never done is beat Sarries away so what a great challenge, probably couldn’t have asked for a better game to move on to.”
Saracens, barring Saturday’s thrashing by Bath, are almost as stingy on D as Sale and they used to be coached by the same man [Alex Sanderson], so it will be a timely test indeed for the West Countrymen.
Let’s take a couple of hints from the game in Ireland and expand them with examples from Ashton Gate.
This is the new Leinster Way under Nienaber. Defenders do not worry about cutting a couple of extra attackers loose on the edge of the pitch. They advance straight upfield in a condensed line, looking to make double tackles in midfield and backline hits behind the gain line. After only two phases of play, the Munstermen find themselves 25m behind the spot where they built the first ruck.
The Sharks began the game with a very similar theory, offering the apparent space outside and then brutalising the ball-carrier with double tackles when the ball bounced back into midfield.
The pressure forces Bristol scrum-half Harry Randall to change tack and kick instead of running, and the ball sailed straight into touch, giving Sale a lineout on the Bears 22.
The same pattern was repeated a little later in the first quarter.
The Sharks first eat the apparent space out wide, then three consecutive carries are stuffed by double tackles in midfield. When Randall went to kick on the fourth phase, his kick was charged down by a spread-eagled Jonny Hill.
It was a perfect example of the misfortunes which tend to follow sides who are backed into a corner, and forced away from their natural gameplan. As the Sale forwards coach Dorian ‘Nobby’ West put it succinctly on TNT Sports, “we are taking metres off them every carry, getting line speed, big shots, two-man tackles, slowing their ball down.”
When Bristol attempted to force the issue in the wide areas, the Sharks closed down the running lanes exceptionally quickly, just like Leinster on the west coast of Ireland.
Sanderson was candid as always in a BBC interview after the game had finished with a 38-0 victory for his charges.
“I am a bit emotional because of the significance of the performance in the mid-point of the season, where we were five weeks ago. It is Christmas and you make sacrifices.
“I said to the boys, ‘everyone makes sacrifices’, so you want to make it worth it and they have for me, they have made my time worth it with that effort.
“If you want to beat teams as good as Bristol, or any in the upper echelon of the Premiership, your set-piece is key as is your defence and you can layer things on the back of that.”
The dialogue in the English Premiership between the clubs based squarely on the strength of their set-piece, kicking and defence [Bath, Sale, Saracens and Leicester] and those who want more from their game with ball in hand [Bristol, Northampton, Harlequins and Gloucester] is ongoing. The hard edge of professional pragmatism exists in a dynamic – if volatile – balance with the need for a more visionary flight of romance.
The leading province in Ireland, and the foundation stone of the national team in Dublin is a crucible for that same conversation. After several seasons as global thought leaders in a possession-based attack, the Springbok volte-face at Leinster is almost complete. The same players who wove the threads of those innovative attacking patterns together are now pouring the greater part of their rugby lives into a suffocating defence and frenzy at the breakdown.
Will the Leinster experiment pay dividends on the biggest stage of all, in the Investec Champions Cup? Will England stick to their guns and continue to encourage movement, ball distribution and high ball-in-play time in the Premiership? It is only one month until the Six Nations, and that will tell us a whole lot more about the chemistry in the great rugby laboratory.
I think the argument behind the future of Rugby and defence vs attack is a pertinent one but also misses a big point. Rugby is a game about momentum and big swings of momentum makes games entertaining. You get and lose momentum in a few ways. You kick a 50-22 after defending for multiple phases (huge momentum swing), you get two penalties in a row thanks to bad opposition discipline allowing you to peel of large meters, you maintain large amounts of territory and possession tiring opponents out, you get a penalty from the set piece, a yellow or red card etc. The laws in the past years that have made the biggest impact has addressed stale games where no team can seize the momentum. The 50-22 has been a raging success as it allows huge momentum swings. The interpretations around ruck time and changes there to favour the team in possession has allowed sides like Ireland to wear teams down with possession-based play and maintain and build momentum. The Dupont law (which killed momentum) and now the reversing of it has had a huge impact and now the access interpretation of the laws around kick chases which forces teams and players to allow access to the catcher is set to make a big impact and everyone loves it because it allows a contest on the catch and more importantly could lead to huge swings in momentum. The worst laws have failed to allow teams to seize momentum. When rugby allowed teams to pass the ball back into the 22 and clear it was clearly a bad law as it allowed nobody to build momentum. Clearly the laws that changed several penalty offences around ruck and set piece to free kicks was aimed at speeding up the game but was a poor law because it killed momentum as teams would infringe regularly without major consequences from penalties and also it did not reward the team that made a big play to win possession from a penalizable offence. In the modern game you can win matches in many ways. You can dominate possession and territory like Ireland or play off counterattack and turnovers like France. You can dominate with the set piece and seize momentum that way like SA, or stifle teams with momentum killing defence. You can run strike moves off first and second phase and score in the blink of an eye like NZ. Every team with every style has a chance. World cup finals are all about ensuring that your opponent cannot seize momentum. Every team is so afraid to make mistakes that give away momentum that they play conservatively until they no longer can afford to. The game favours no style and no type of play and thats why the big 4 teams are so closely matched. In the end it all comes down to execution and the team that executes better wins. For my mind that is a well balanced game and it is on the right track.
Good to read re these intelligent coaches of beautiful defense, Nick! Leinster’s additions (JN, RG, JB, RS) seem very apt for knockout rugby, and James Ryan seems highly animated by it.
I think that has been the motivation for Leinster's recruitment recently HJ. They want that fifth star on the jersey!
I enjoyed watching Bristol toy with Leicester and enjoyed watching Sale suffocate Bristol. Sale's line speed was very impressive but do you have stats on Bristol's ruck speed on attack Nick? The Bears' ruck speed seemed slower than against Leicester.
Happy New Year.
My guess would be a lot slower Mitch - when you're taking double hits like that it means your cleanout has to go back and reruck over a carrier knocked behind them. More on LQB next article!
An excellent thought provoking article, Nick. I am just finishing watching "Chasing the Sun", and see Jacques Nienaber in a clearer light now. He is more forceful, more his own man, than I had thought. I do wonder though if the Nienaber defence revolution will be enough when Leinster are really tested by the big French teams. One very big difference between the Boks and Leinster is the size of forwards, and the power that goes with that size. In the front row especially, Leinster and Ireland do not have the scrum power to really dominate. I just worry that the edge Leinster and Ireland had "as global thought leaders in a possession-based attack" could be lost. The games against the French sides, club and 6N, will be acid tests.
Yep Leinster forward fowards have been brought up on a diet of all-round skills Miz. Which they have in spades. Slimani is an excellent example of a specialist scrummager being brought on board which prob points in a new direction.
I’d say it was lost the day that SL headed over to France.
There was evidence of that during the November internationals.
Happy New Year Nick, and looking forward already to your 6N predictions…!
The Leinster changes are interesting for sure and almost certainly the result of scars from the maulings dished out by the French in CC finals. Interesting too though to see how they fare in the business end of the URC taking the Bok teams on at their own game. That certainly wasn’t the m.o. of the kiwi teams when they dominated the Boks, most of the time, in SR. The URC version of your Prem split probably leaves Glasgow sitting in a class of their own then, perhaps with Cardiff for company if they can sustain their level? Even then, Franco Smith has shown the benefit of developing hybrid skills, whichever camp a team is in, with the increase in Glasgows forward power and an impressive maul defence and attack that hadn’t existed before his arrival.
As for Ireland, they are beginning to demonstrate the extent to which they are going to struggle to sustain their position right at the peak of WR, and whilst they aren’t going to fall off any cliffs anytime soon, they ain’t going to be collecting too many grand slams and probably not even clear favourites to lift the 6N this year either. I don’t envy SE having to take the helm at a time of simultaneous transition in game plan and key players through the team, presuming of course that faz follows suit and tucks in behind Leinster…
Let me take a breath first Ed🤣
Yes Glasgow's maul D has been particuc impressive as has Bristol's - I don't think the Bears have given up a maul try all season in the league!
I have to admit I don't see a Grand Slam winner this season, prob every side will drop one game at least.
Agreed .
Sale we're just terrific and suffocated the life out of Bristol and forced them into a forward tussle. Had Mcginty been playing it may have beeen a different outcome but it was what it was .
Was it good watch ?? Yes if you were a Sale fan , Sanderson must take credit for excellent coaching .
Otherwise no. It was pragmatic , don't let the other team play and dullness won the day .
Admittedly by quite a margin .
Bath show you can do both and I hope they do well .
Are you suggesting a neutral would not have enjoyed that game?
And Bristol needed that kind of game too if they are to reach the playoffs and progress further. You are not going to score 40 points in every game.
It's the friction which produces more development, and the nice thing about the Prem currently is that it has advocates for both sides.
AAnthony
you're right that Sanderson has done a great job, but a lot of it also comes down to personnel. George Ford has been excellent all season.
Great article!
Cheers and HNY!